The busy season on the island begins. Lobster boats are being launched after their winter on dry land and the harbor starts to fill with familiar names and colors. All around the island stacks of lobster traps, either new or repaired, are ready to hit the water in the weeks to come, accompanied by bundles of freshly painted buoys.
Lobster fishermen do not lack direction at this time of year.
After two years of isolation, COVID fears, masks, waiting for vaccines, and scrambling to find at-home tests, pandemic numbers seem to be heading in the right direction.
In the before times, I would have been flat out busy making jewelry for summer galleries…
In the before times, I would have been flat out busy making jewelry for summer galleries by now. Today I timidly approach my work for the first time in two years. I’ve lost my focus and I get easily discouraged when my ADD tendencies kick in and I can’t sit still for more than half an hour.
I’ve heard others express the same kind of feelings so I don’t feel alone in this. Most of my COVID anxieties have abated, only to be replaced by anxiety about the war in Ukraine and if we are on the verge of a third world war.
Life is still weird and I’m tired of feeling weird. I’m trying some different approaches to stimulate my creativity. To get myself out of a writing rut I decided to write a pantoum. I don’t write much poetry, but when I do, I like its easy-to-follow confines.
Here is the simplest definition I could find for this poetry form: “Each quatrain of a pantoum follows an ABAB rhyme scheme with lines that are eight to twelve syllables long. The second and fourth lines of the first stanza become first and third lines of the next stanza.”
So, you write your first four-line stanza, and then you need only come up with a second and fourth line for the next stanza. How to end it? Just use your original first and third lines as the second and last in the last stanza.
Writing a pantoum can take you in a direction you didn’t know you were going but you end up right back where you started. I encourage you to try it if you just can’t get going on the next right thing. It’s fun! And can’t we all use a little more of that, now?
April Pantoum 2022
It takes me forever to get around to things,
Tomorrow could, as well, feel the same.
I keep searching for some kind of creative wings.
New artwork to bear my name?
Tomorrow could as well feel the same,
and the calendar now says it’s spring.
New artwork to bear my name?
I start making silver beads to string.
And the calendar now says it’s spring.
I sure hope I can find some direction.
I start making silver beads to string.
It feels strange after two years of inaction.
I sure hope I can find some direction.
Fickle weather! The spring backdrop in Maine
It feels strange after two years of inaction.
My mind fixates on news from Ukraine.
Fickle weather! The spring backdrop in Maine,
As Bruce works outside on his gear,
My mind fixates on news from Ukraine
Next week will be cold again, I hear.
As Bruce works outside on his gear
In my studio thoughts flow in and out
Next week will be cold again, I hear
Artistically, I’m having my doubts.
In my studio thoughts flow in and out,
In my garden there are crocuses and mud.
Artistically, I’m having my doubts,
Yet look! Might that tree branch have buds?
In my garden there are crocuses and mud.
It’s an in-between weird time of year.
Yet look! Might that tree branch have buds?
The time for pea planting draws near.
It’s an in-between weird time of year.
Winter is over whether I’m ready or not
The time for pea planting draws near,
I need a more productive train of thought.
Winter is over whether I’m ready or not.
I keep searching for my creative wings.
I need a more productive train of thought.
It takes me forever to get around to things.
Barbara Fernald lives, writes, and makes jewelry on Islesford (Little Cranberry Island). She may be reached at fernald244@gmail.com.
